parmenter



Aug. 19, 1958 I Filed May 8, 1956 R. O. PARMENTER RECORD CONTROLLED STATISTICAL MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 United States Patent RECORD CONTROLLED STATISTICAL MACHINES Raymond Owen Parmenter, Mitcham, England, assignor to PoWers-Samas Accounting Machines Limited, London, England, a British company Application May 8, 1956, Serial No. 583,425 Claims priority, application Great Britain June 2, 1-955 6 Claims. (Cl. 164-111) This invention relates to record controlled statistical machines and in particular to apparatus for ensuring the latching of selectively settable setting elements in the active condition thereof when the selective setting is effected at high speed.

In apparatus such as that known as a punch set-bar unit it is usual to arrange set bars in columns, one set-bar for each data-indicating position of a record to be punched, and to provide for each column of set-bars a latch plate which is spring-urged to a normally active position thereof and which is moved to an inactive position thereof by a set-bar during movement of the set-bar to the active position thereof. This form of apparatus has been found to operate satisfactorily at the speeds at which machines have hitherto been operated, but when the rate of setting is increased the latch plate springs tend to be sluggish in operation so that latching of the active set-bars cannot be ensured at the higher speeds. On the other hand it has been found that if the strength of the latch plate springs is increased there is a tendency for the latch plates to rebound with the result that latching of the set-bars cannot be positively ensured.

It is a main object of the present invention to provide means whereby latching of active set-bars, or other selectively settable setting elements, is positively ensured when selective setting of the setting elements is effected at high speeds.

According to the present invention there is provided in a record controlled statistical machine apparatus comprising the combination with columns of selectively settable setting elements supported for independent lengthwise movement to and from inactive positions thereof and for each column a latch plate common to all, setting elements of the column, said plate being supported for lengthwise movement in a direction transverse to the direction of lengthwise movement of the setting elements and resiliently urged to a normally active position thereof, latching means carried by the setting elements of each column and the latch plate therefor, said. latch plate movable to an inactive position thereof by lengthwise movement of a setting element to the active position thereof under control of a transmission element appropriated thereto and operable by the main shaft of the machine, of a locking element also operable by said main shaft and supported for movement into engagement with an end of the latch plate as it reaches the inactive position thereof andoperative positively to restore the latch plate to the active position thereof thereby positively to ensure latching of the active setting element in the active position thereof.

The locking element may be continuously rotatable and the setting elements may be settable column-bycolumn and the locking elementssupported for continuous rotation to co-operate in predetermined order with their respective latch plates and in timed relation with the column-by-column setting of the setting elements.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the locking element comprises a locking pin extending radially from a roller rotatable in timed relation with the movement 2,848,048 Patented Aug. 19, 1958 of a setting element from the inactive position thereof. The setting elements are settable column-by-column and the locking pins are disposed helically around the periphery of the roller thereby to co-operate one after the other with their latch plates as the setting operations progress from one column to the next.

In one embodiment of the invention the setting elements may be arranged for column-by-column setting in groups each consisting of a predetermined number of adjoining columns and the locking pins for co-operation with the latch plates of the different groups are disposed helically around the periphery of the roller in groups corresponding to the groups of latch plates, like locking pins of the groups thereof being in line lengthwise of the roller thereby simultaneously to co-operate with the latch plates appropriated thereto.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a part of a punch set-bar unit having the invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a broken View, looking in the direction of arr-ow II, Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a part of an alternative form of set-bar unit to which the invention may be applied.

Referring to the drawings, one form of set-bar unit of known construction is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and comprises columns of selectively settable set-bars 1 supported for independent lengthwise movement to and from normally inactive positions thereof by guide plates 2, 3. Setting of the set-bars is effected by transmission elements, illustrated as push bars 4 appropriated there to and a setting is transmitted to punches, not shown, by pins 5 co-operating with the set-bars 1. In the drawings the push bars 4 are presumed to be the push bars 2 described in United States Patent application S. N. 582,762, Raymond Owen Parmenter, filed May 4, 1956, and the upper portion of Fig. l of the accompanying drawings illustrates the push bar operating apparatus as shown in Fig. 3 of the said application S. N. 582,762.

In Fig. 1 there is illustrated one column of set-bars there being, as is customary, twelve set-bars to a column, one set-bar for each data-indicating position in which a hole may be punched in a column of a statistical record card. Each set-bar 1 is provided with a latching tooth 6 having formed on it a camming face 7 for co-operation with a latch pin 8 during lengthwise movement of the setbar from the inactive to the active position thereof. The latch pins 8 extend lengthwise from a latch plate 9, of which there is one for each column of set-bars, supported by guide members 10, 11 for lengthwise sliding movement to the left, as viewed in Fig. l, on downward movement of a set-bar 1 during which movement the cam face 7 of the set-bar co-operates with the latch pin 8 appropriated thereto to effect the said lengthwise movement of the latch plate 9. The latch plates 9 are urged to the normally active positions thereof by latch plate restoring pins 12 and springs 13. Thus when a set-bar 1 has been moved to the active position thereof, as illustrated at the extreme left of the column in Fig. 1, the cam face 7 of the set-bar engages with its latch pin 8 and moves the latch plate to the left, as shown in Fig. 1, to the position thereof indicated by chain lines and when the set-bar reaches its active position the pin 12 and spring 13 tends to restore the latch plate to the normally active position thereof in which position the latch pin 8 is located above the latching tooth 6 thereby to retain the active set-bar in its active condition. After a punching operation has been effected all the latch plates 9 of the unit are restored simultaneously by a restoring bar, not shown, but operating in known manner. The construction of the set bar unit comprising the above-mentioned parts 1 and 3 to 9 is one which has long been known and used.

In order to overcome the difficulties mentioned above when setting of the set-bars is effected at high speeds, the apparatus is provided with locking elements, one for each latch plate 9, each locking element being supported for movement into engagement with the end of a latch plate as it reaches the inactive position thereof, that is the position shown in chain line in Fig. 1, and the locking element acts positively to ensure latching of the active set-bar in the active position thereof. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings each locking element consists of a pin 14 extending radially from a roller 15 supported in bearings 16 for continuous rotation by a sprocket wheel 17 driven by a chain 18 from the main shaft 19 of the machine. Rotation of the roller 15, being obtained from the main shaft 19, is effected in timed relation with the operation of the transmission elements 4 which as described in the above mentioned Application S. N. 582,762 is effected by flat bars 6, indicated in Fig. 1 hereof as bars 30, and operating bars 40 under control of driving mechanism operated by the main shaft. The timing of the roller 15 is such that each locking pin 14 engages a latch plate 9 just below the top corner, as illustrated in Fig. 1, just as the camming face 7 of the tooth 6 passes beneath its latch pin 8. The continued clockwise rotation of roller 15 causes the locking pin 14 to ride down the end face of the latch plate 9 thereby positively to restore the latch.

plate 9 to the active position thereof in which the latch pin 8 is located above the latching tooth 6. When the setting of the set-bars 1 is effected at high speed the interval during which they are retained in the set condition thereof by their transmission elements 4 is very short and in some instances is of insuflicient duration to ensure that the springs 13 will respond to restore its latch plate 9 to the active condition thereof to effect latching of the set-bar in the set condition thereof. The operation of the pin 14 in timed relation with the setting operation, as just described, however, ensures that the latching is positively effected and maintained until the spring 13 has fully responded and is fully operative to maintain the latch plate in the active condition thereof.

As is well understood, the set-bars for all columns of a punch unit are sometimes set simultaneously and in such a construction the locking pins 14 will be arranged to operate, in the manner described above, simultaneously on all of the latch plates appropriated thereto. Sometimes, however, it is desired to effect setting of the setbars column-by-column and for a unit arranged to be set in this manner, the locking pins 14 are disposed helically about the periphery of the roller 15, the looking pins 14 being so spaced apart as to co-operate with the latch plates 9 appropriated thereto one after the other as columnwise setting of the set-bars is effected. In a still further embodiment of set-bar unit it is desired to effect setting of the set-bars in groups of columns, setting being elfected in like columns of each group during each setting operation. Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate the arrangement of the unit when the columns of set-bars are arranged in groups as just described, the arrangement being that each group consists of eight columns of setbars and eight latch plates appropriated thereto. Thus, if the punch unit is constructed for use with an 80- column card, there will be ten groups of each of eight columns of set-bars and latch plates while, if the punch unit is constructed to punch 65-column cards, there will be eight groups each consisting of eight columns of setbars and latch plates and a group consisting of one column only. Fig. 2 illustrates the arrangement in which the locking pins 14 are arranged helically in groups about the roller 15 for a punch unit in which the columns of set-bars are arranged as eight groups of eight columns.

In a construction as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the locking pins 14 of each group of eight are spaced apart at 30 intervals thereby to occupy on the roller 15 a radial space of 210 and the remaining space of on the roller represents the time during which punching of the card is effected and the latch plates 9 are operated, by the restoring bar mentioned above and common thereto, to effect restoration of active set bars. As is well understood, the said common restoring bar acts upon the ends 20 of the latch plates 9 thereby, at the appropriate time, to move the latch plates to the left, as viewed in Fig. 1, thus permitting any active set-bars 1 to be restored to the inactive position thereof by their springs 21.

Fig. 3 illustrates an alternative form of set-bar unit well known in the art and which differs from that described above only in that the set-bars 1a have latching pins 8a extending therefrom and located in windows formed in the latchplate 9a, the windows being provided with latching teeth 6a, the cam faces 7a of which, by co-operation with the latching pins 811, effect movement of the latch plate 9a co-operating therewith to the left, as viewed in Fig. 3, when a set-bar is moved to the active position thereof. In this unit the pins 5 are replaced by pins 5a integral with the set-bars 1a, and springs 21a are provided to restore the set-bars to the inactive positions thereof.

In the foregoing description the invention has been described as applying to a set-bar unit for use with a punch unit, but it will be understood that the apparatus may be employed for ensuring latching of any selectively settable setting element, setting of which is to be effected at high speed and which is to be latched in the active position thereof by co-operation between latching elements carried by the setting elements and latch plates or the equivalent thereof appropriated thereto. It will also be understood, that if desired, the locking elements may consist of rotatable cams instead of the locking pins 14 described above, or they may consist of plates supported for reciprocation into and out of engagement with the latch plates as and for the purposes herein described.

I claim:

1. In a record controlled statistical machine, apparatus comprising the combination with columns of selectively settable setting elements supported for independent lengthwise movement to and from inactive positions thereof and for each column a latch plate common to all setting elements of the column, said plate being supported for lengthwise movement in a direction transverse to the direction of lengthwise movement of the setting elements and resiliently urged to a normally active position thereof, latching means carried by the setting elements of each column and the latch plate therefor, said latch plate being movable to an inactive position thereof by lengthwise movement of a setting element to the active position thereof under control of a transmission element appropriated thereto and operable by the main shaft of the machine, of a locking element also operable by said main shaft and supported for movement into engagement with an end of the latch plate as it reaches the inactive position thereof and operative positively to restore the latch plate to the active position thereof thereby positively to ensure latching of the active setting element in the active position thereof.

2. In a record controlled statistical machine, apparatus comprising the combination with columns of selectively settable setting elements supported for independent lengthwise movement to and from inactive positions thereof and for each column a latch plate common to all setting elements of the column, said plate being supported for lengthwise movement in a direction transverse to the direction of lengthwise movement of the setting elements and resiliently urged to a normally active position thereof, latching means carried by the setting elements of each column and the latch plate therefor, said latch plate being movable to an inactive position thereof by lengthwise movement of a setting element to the active position thereof under control of a transmission element appropriated thereto and operable by the main shaft of the machine, of a locking element.continuously rotatable by said main shaft to be movable into engagement with an end of the latch plate as it reaches the inactive position thereof and operative posi tively to 'restore the latch plate to the active position thereof thereby positively to ensure latching of the active setting element in the active position thereof.

3. In a record controlled statistical machine, apparatus 1 comprising the combination with columns of setting elements settable column-by-column and supported for independent lengthwise movement to and from inactive positions thereof, a latch plate for each column of settable elements, each said plate being supported for lengthwise movement in a direction transverse to the direction of lengthwise movement of the setting elements and resiliently urged to a normally active position thereof, latching means carried by the setting elements of each column and the latch plate therefor, said latch plate being movable to an inactive position thereof by lengthwise movement of a setting element to the active position thereof under control of a transmission element appropriated thereto and operable by the main shaft of the machine, of a locking element for each latch plate, said locking elements being rotated continuously by said main shaft to co-operate in succession with the latch plates appropriated thereto according to the column-bycolumn setting of the setting elements and engaging the latch plates as they respectively reach the inactive positions thereof, thereby positively to restore the latch plates to the active positions thereof and ensure latching of the active setting elements in the active positions thereof.

4. In a record controlled statistical machine, apparatus comprising the combination with columns of selectively settable setting elements supported for independent lengthwise movement to and from inactive positions thereof and for each column a latch plate common to all setting elements of the column, said plate being supported for lengthwise movement in a direction trans verse to the direction of lengthwise movement of the setting elements and resiliently urged to a normally active position thereof, latching means carried by the setting elements of each column and the latch plate therefor, said latch plate being movable to an inactive position thereof by lengthwise movement of a setting element to the active position thereof under control of a transmission element appropriated thereto and operable by the main shaft of the machine, of a roller rotatable continuously by said main shaft, and locking pins, one for each latch plate, extending radially from the roller for movement thereby into engagement with an end of the latch plate appropriate thereto as the latch plate reaches the inactive position thereof, said looking pins being operative positively to restore the latch plates to the active positions thereof thereby positively to ensure latching of the active setting elements in the active positions thereof.

5. In a record controlled statistical machine, apparatus comprising the combination with columns of setting elements settable column-by-column and supported for independent lengthwise movement to and from inactive positions thereof, a latch plate for each column of settable elements, each said plate being supported for lengthwise movement in a direction transverse to the direction of lengthwise movement of the setting elements and resiliently urged to a normally active position thereof, latching means carried by the setting elements of each column and the latch plate therefor, said latch plate being movery thereof for movement thereby successively into engagement with the ends of the latch plates appropriated thereto as thelatch plates reach the inactive positions thereof according to the column-by-column setting of the setting elements, said locking pins being operative positively to restore the latch plates to the active positions thereof thereby positively to ensure latching of the active setting elements to the active positions thereof.

6, In a record controlled statistical machine, apparatus comprising the combination with columns of setting elements arranged in adjoining groups each of which groups includes a predetermined number of columns the setting elements of which are settable col'umn-by-column within the groups and like columns of each group are settable simultaneously, means to effect setting of the setting elements by lengthwise movement thereof to and from inactive positions thereof, a latch plate for each column of settable elements, each said plate being supported for lengthwise movement in a direction transverse to the direction of lengthwise movement of the setting ciements and resiliently urged to a normally active position thereof, latching means carried by the setting elements of each column and the latch plate therefor, said latch plate being movable to an inactive position thereof by lengthwise movement of a setting element to the active position thereof under control of'a transmission element appropriated thereto and operable by the main shaft of the machine, of a roller continuously rotatable by said main shaft, and locking pins, one for each latch plate, extending radially from the roller and arranged in groups, one group for each said group of columns of setting elements, the pins of each group being disposed helically around the periphery of the roller and corresponding pins of the groups thereof being aligned one with the other parallel to the axis of the roller thereby simultaneously to engage ends of the latch plates appropriate thereto as the latch plates reach the inactive positions thereof, said pins thereby operating positively to restore the latch plates to the active positions thereof and ensuring latching of the active setting elements in the active positions thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,880,472 Peirie Oct. 4, 1932 1,900,103 Gubelman Mar. 7, 1933 2,020,574 Robertson Nov. 12, 1935 2,021,302 Gates Nov. 19, 1935 2,167,715 Green Aug. 1, 1939 

